Prince Charming
by Cogit8tor
Summary: Professor Slughorn asks Lily's roommate Anne to stop by his office to discuss a sensitive and confidential matter. Anne is asked to do something that will have farreaching consequences for James and Lily and Harry!
1. Meeting with Slughorn

**Prince CharmingChapter One**

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Harry Potter or any character from the _Harry Potter _books. They all remain the property of J. K. Rowling.

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Anne Browning had absolutely no idea what Professor Slughorn wanted to see her about. She wasn't very good at potions and had barely squeaked by her O.W.L. in Slughorn's class with an _Acceptable_. All things considered, she couldn't tell a beetle from a bezeor and would have been perfectly happy with never taking Potions lessons again in her life. A fifth year at Hogwarts whose two major claims to fame were being one of Lily Evans' roommates and a certain talent for Transfiguration, Anne had been quite surprised to receive a note from a senior member of the faculty and the head of Slytherin House delivered by a house elf that morning before she went down to the Great Hall for breakfast.

_Dear Miss Browning,_

_I would greatly appreciate your help with a confidential matter  
and would be honored if you would come to my office at four this  
afternoon to discuss it. If you are unable to come, please let me  
know. Otherwise, I look forward to seeing you later today._

_Please do not discuss this with anyone else._

_Sincerely,_

_Professor Horace Slughorn_

Brushing her wavy brown hair into some semblance of neatness, Anne stopped worrying about Slughorn for a few minutes and picked up worrying about Lily again. Lily was obviously batty over James Potter but wouldn't admit it to herself. She'd always been quick to pop Potter's over inflated ego in the past and now that she'd actually allowed her suppressed feelings for James to come out she was like a third year in a tizzy about the Winter Ball. "Would James invite me?" "Would I go if he asked?" "What if he doesn't ask?" and similar babbling that was so uncharacteristic of the _normal_ Lily that Anne was sure Lily was besotted by the handsome Quiddich player. Anne had wondered if Lily had been sweet on James for some time, given how often Lily had gone out of her way to put James down, so she was gratified to have her suspicions confirmed at last.

Lily was Anne's best friend, as well as Head Girl, and Anne—who was somewhat shy—enjoyed the extra attention she received from the other girls thanks to being so close to Lily. It was rumoured that several of the instructors thought Lily to be the brightest witch of her generation and Anne had seen plenty of evidence supporting that opinion over the years. Still, Anne enjoyed a few uncharacteristic moments of feeling superior to the otherwise always composed Miss Lily Evans because _she_ wasn't temporarily in leave of her senses over a _boy_.

Smiling, Anne tugged at her sweater and smoothed her robes, giving herself a final review in her dormitory room mirror before heading off to her meeting with Professor Slughorn. Her eyes twinkled as she looked forward to more girl-talk with Lily that evening. Then she took a deep breath, put on a more serious expression and headed off to see what the Potions teacher could possibly want with _her._

"Miss Browning," said Slughorn magnanimously, as he opened the door to his office. "So glad you could come this afternoon."

Anne just stood there, not sure what to do next.

The Potions professor gestured broadly and invited Anne to come in and sit down in one of the two overstuffed chairs in front of the fireplace by the far wall. Leaving the door open, he followed her and sat in the other chair, facing her. He removed his wand from his robes and gestured toward the fireplace, flicking it gently and intoning _"Ignis!" _A merry little fire quickly took away the slight chill of the mid-autumn afternoon.

"Would you care for some pumpkin juice, Miss Browning?" asked Slughorn. "Or perhaps some butterbeer?"

"No thank you, I'm fine," said Anne.

"I know your father, of course, from the Ministry," said Professor Slughorn. "Brilliant man, a marvel at creating enchanted artifacts."

Anne smiled. She agreed—her father _was_ a marvel, though quite an absentminded one.

"His automatic spell storing artifacts can hold up to twelve pre-cast spells and release them one after the other," said Slughorn.

"I believe the latest models can hold up to fifteen," said Anne proudly.

"And it was my pleasure to help him with a special potion for quenching the metal of the _automatics _to make them strong enough to stand up to the extra magical stress," added the Professor. "I was pleased to do my part to provide our Aurors with the best tools possible to fight the good fight against You Know Who."

"I'm sure my father was very grateful for your help," said Anne, remembering that Professor Slughorn was far from as fond of direct speaking as Professor Dumbledore.

"Well then," said the Professor, more to himself than to her. "Press on."

"I would like to ask you for _your_ help in a matter of some delicacy," said Slughorn, somewhat hesitantly. "I greatly appreciate your discretion in handling this situation," he continued.

"Of course, Professor," said Anne. "How can I help?"

"Were you planning to attend the upcoming Winter Ball?" asked Slughorn.

"I haven't given it much thought at this point," said Anne, who was far more interested in who Lily would go with than whether or not she would go herself.

"There's a student here at Hogwarts, a brilliant student, perhaps the brightest of this generation of students, who needs your help," Slughorn continued.

"I'm always glad to help a fellow student in need," said Anne, wondering why Slughorn was taking a roundabout way to bring up helping someone so smart that it could only be her roommate Lily.

"I'm so glad you feel that way," said Slughorn. "My finest student is far to shy to ask you to the Winter Ball himself, but I've watched him in class and in the Great Hall at meals and he always seems to be glancing at you. I'm convinced he likes you, and I know that he needs the social polish that attending a formal affair like the Winter Ball can provide. Young ladies are far more mature than young men at this age. I need _you_ to do what he can't."

_He? _thought Anne. Not Lily. His finest student? Oh no, not _Snape. _Snape wasn't looking at _her_ in class and at meals. He was looking at the girl sitting next to her—_Lily!_ Even before Lily stood up to James Potter and the Marauding Morons when they had picked on Snape, the lank haired boy had worshiped Lily from afar. _What have I gotten myself into?_

"Fine, then it's settled," said Professor Slughorn. "You'll ask Severus to the Winter Ball."

Anne's jaw dropped an inch and Slughorn took it for a nod. Anne felt like she'd just been bludgered.

"Thank you _so_ much," the professor continued, "I am deeply in your debt. And now, I'm sure, you have scrolls to write and must be to your work." He escorted her to the door and shook her hand enthusiastically as she left.

"Be sure to give my best to your father next time you see him," said Slughorn as he slowly closed his office door, leaving Anne standing lost and alone in the cold stone corridor.


	2. The Invitation

**Prince Charming**

**Chapter Two**

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Harry Potter or any character from the _Harry Potter _books. They all remain the property of J. K. Rowling.

Many thanks to SlytherinFan15 for creating the character of Anne. I selected her last name, Browning, because it's my mother's maiden name.

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Anne knew she should be heading back to her room in Gryffindor Tower but somehow couldn't tell her feet to move in that direction. She stood rooted in place because her mind was churning so rapidly that if gray matter was milk her brain would be butter. She had wondered what Professor Slughorn wanted to talk to her about but had never expected to be put on the spot like that and trapped into promising to invite Snape to the Winter Ball.

Now that it had actually happened she still didn't know where she would come up with the courage to find Snape and go through with extending the invitation. The butter in her brain turned to butterflies in her stomach as Anne considered how far outside her normal range of behavior she'd have to step to ask a boy—any boy—to go _anywhere._

Lily was the sun, the outgoing one, shining bright in the center of the social sky. Anne was a moon, only glowing with reflected light and glad to spend half the time in the shadow of her more popular and confident friend. And Snape, well Snape was so intimidating, so dark and brooding and aloof, that she didn't know how she'd summon the strength to meet his eye, let alone _talk _to him. On top of it all, he was a Slytherin and despite herself, or maybe because of her inherently straightforward nature, she had trouble abiding the sly and calculating outlooks so typical to members of that house.

Snape, at least, did not go out of his way to be cruel to other students like so many other Sytherins. Come to think of it, perhaps that was because he was so often the target of cruelty inflicted by other students, particularly four of the less mature members of her own house and Hogwarts home.

Anne thought back to her arrival at Hogwarts when the Sorting Hat was first placed on her head. The Hat's words when she donned it were permanently written in her memory.

"_Hmmm…" the Hat mused._

"_This one is not easy to call."_

"_Not Slitherin… no, not at all."_

"_Solid enough for a Hufflepuff,"_

_Sharp as a Ravenclaw, or_

_Do her hidden depths of bravery_

_Make her—Gryffindor!_

Lily had come right after her on the list of new Gryffindor First Years and from the time they'd sat next to each other at the Gryffindor table that exceedingly magical evening the two of them had been best friends. Anne treasured the Hat's words—far more than were offered for most students—and had drawn on them when she needed to be particularly courageous, such as the time last term when she'd followed Lily's example and put Sirius Black in his place when he tried to turn Snape's hair bright green by spiking his pumpkin juice with vertleberries.

Summoning her inner reserves of bravery, Anne realized that the only way she'd be able to go through with it was to get it over with right away, before she lost her nerve like a Keeper afraid of the Quaffle. She shifted from foot to foot, still standing in front of Professor Slughorn's door as she considered where she would be likely to find Severus at this time of day. He could be in the Slytherin Commons room, but since all the Fifth Years had been assigned major research projects on the earliest history of Hogwarts and its influence on International Wizardry that were due at the end of the week, the odds were good that she'd find him in the library. "All right then," she told herself, in the words of the anonymous wizard who'd ghost-written so many fine plays, _"If it were done when 'tis done, then 'twere well it were done quickly."_

"Are you lost, Miss Browning?" said a deep voice immediately behind her. Anne had been so caught up in her own thoughts that she obviously hadn't heard the soft steps of someone coming down the corridor. As startled as she would have been if one of the butterflies in her stomach had popped out of her mouth, Anne turned around to see Severus Snape standing less than three feet away. He was carrying half a dozen oversized and quite dusty books under one arm.

"I'm not lost," Anne said. "I looked for you in the library and when I couldn't find you there I came over here to see if you might have been helping Professor Slughorn in his office."

"I was," said Snape. "I was supposed to bring him these," he said, raising the books a few inches. "Professor Slughorn asked me to bring them by his office at 4:30 this afternoon."

"I must have just missed you in the library," said Anne, fighting off more butterflies.

"I thought of looking for you in the Potion's Laboratory…" Anne went on.

"And why would _you_ be looking for _me?" _Snape interrupted, glancing around with concern as if to confirm that James Potter and his posse weren't about to materialize out of the masonry and caste a tangletongue spell on him.

"Because I wanted to invite you to come with me to the Winter Ball," Anne blurted before her innate shyness could win out.

Snape's brow furrowed and one eyebrow went up, as if to suggest she was teasing.

"I'm serious. I'd appreciate your company," said Anne. Her shyness finally conquered her courage and caused her to look down at her feet instead of meeting his eyes.

Snape rubbed his chin and considered the invitation.

"Very well," said Snape, a bit stiffly, "I accept."

"Thank you," said Anne, shifting from foot to foot. "I look forward to it."

"As do I," said Snape matter-of-factly. "Now please excuse me. I'm late for my appointment with Professor Slughorn." He knocked on the door to the professor's office with his free hand and they were both surprised not to get an immediate response.

"Just a moment!" came Slughorn's voice after a few moments.

Anne, who was still looking down at the floor, saw a flicker of motion from the bottom of the door. It took a few moments to register that what she'd seen was the rapid withdrawal of the receiving end of a pair of the sensitive eyes and ears of a set of Extensible Mickeys, one of Zonko's top selling items and a favorite of nosy busybodies across the Wizarding World.

Anne said goodbye to Snape and hurried off down the hall so that Professor Slughorn wouldn't catch her still dithering in front of his door—though she was quite sure now that her meeting with Snape outside the Professor's office had been no accident and Slughorn had been well aware of her presence.

Where the social development of his finest student was concerned, Professor Slughorn clearly left nothing to chance.

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	3. Alchemical Assistance?

**Prince Charming**

**Chapter Three**

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Harry Potter or any character from the _Harry Potter _books. They all remain the property of J. K. Rowling.

Many thanks to SlytherinFan15 for creating the character of Anne.

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Anne tried hard to breathe slowly and compose herself as she went back to her dormitory room to find Lily. Her brain was spinning faster than an Arabian sand dervish who'd been drinking Turkish coffee and she needed to talk to Lily right away. Lily would help her make sense out of what had just happened. Clearly Professor Slughorn had manipulated her into asking Severus Snape to the Winter Ball and had arranged for Severus to arrive at his office just as she was leaving.

No. Not just as she was leaving. After she'd stood outside Slughorn's door for ten minutes or so trying to puzzle out what had just happened. Anne stopped by a nook in the corridor holding a bust of Artemis Finchcomb, the witch who invented flue powder. She leaned against the pillar holding the bust and took off her left shoe. The bottom of the sole was sticky. Anne held it to her nose, sniffed it, and detected the unmistakable smell of ditherweed extract. Artie Weasley had poured some on the floor of the Great Hall before breakfast one morning last term and she and more than a dozen others had been caught standing in the puddle unable to decide whether to have their eggs poached or scrambled for over half an hour before the effect wore off.

Anne put her shoe back on and snorted. She could probably get Professor Slughorn in trouble for doing that, if she could prove it. Maybe she'd ask Artie if he would pour a bit of his ditherweed extract under Slughorn's desk before seventh year Potions class the next morning. That would be quite an appropriate turnabout. On the other hand, she thought, remembering Slughorn's typically self-centered and rambling lectures, how could you tell?

As she continued back to the Gryffindor dormitory Anne wondered if her sudden shift from dithering to directness in asking Snape out had also been Slughorn's doing. It must have been, she thought. I'd be more likely to jump off the Astronomy Tower without a broom than ask a boy to the Winter Ball without alchemical assistance.

Her thoughts began to calm as she tried to figure out the best way to explain what had happened to Lily. At the Fat Lady's portrait Anne started to say, _Primogeniture,_ when she was nearly knocked over by Lily rushing out.

"I was looking for you," said Anne.

"_I _was looking for _you,_" said Lily.

They laughed. Lily looked like she had an overcaffeinated dervish in her head, too.

"You'll never guess what happened," said Anne.

"Me too," said Lily. "Not in a centaur's age."

"You go first," said Anne.

"James asked me to the Winter Ball!" said Lily.

"Wonderful!" said Anne. "We can double date."

Lily's eyes widened. "Let's go upstairs," she said. "Sounds like we've got a lot to talk about."

"You have no idea," said Anne. "No idea at all…"

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End file.
